Living Hope Fellowship Church...Sermons From the Pastor
RACISM
by Pastor Kevin Badgley
I'm going to lay out the statutes of the Lord concerning racism. The early church received instruction about it. Acts 10:28 says, "And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean."
Notice what it says in Acts 10:34: "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:" That means that He is no dis-respecter of persons, either. If God paid attention to the white man more than the black man, He'd be a respecter of persons. If we want to be like God, we are going to have to be no respecter of persons. Verse 35 says, "But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." A Christian of every nation is accepted with Him, and every nation would include every color. It would include any background before they were saved. It would include any gender.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 says, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." They all ate manna; they all drank of the water of the Rock; they were all baptized under Moses. It says, ". . . all our fathers. . . ." You may say, He meant all of the Jews. No! He didn't mean just the Jews or just the people of God in that day. Paul was writing to gentiles.
Exodus 12:37-38 says, "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle." He was talking to more than just the Corinthians, wasn't He? Some Egyptians tagged along. There are other scriptures where mixed multitudes were mentioned. I believe that all of our fathers (all nations) were represented, because at that time Egypt was a military power. They conquered every known people, and they brought the Jews under bondage. Egypt was a place where everybody in the world went, because there was a famine in those days. They were influential throughout the world. They took the Jews into bondage, because they were growing in number faster than the Egyptians were. Four hundred and thirty years we know that they were under bondage, but when they came out they spoiled the Egyptians. They took cattle, sheep, grain, gold, and silver, but also a mixed multitude went up with them. Many people came out, and I believe that everyone under the sun was represented.
I want to establish several things about racism. James 2:1 says, "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons." Some people think they are faithful to the Lord, but they respect certain people more than they do other ones. They are scared to death that these will take over if they come into the church. You may say, Let them have their own church. Are they going to have their own heaven? You are going to mingle in heaven, or you are going to go to hell! You will mingle there, too, whether you like it or not. There are black men, white men, red men, purple men, yellow men, orange men, brown men, albino, all kinds of men in hell. There are all kinds of men in heaven.
James 2:8-9 says, "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors." You commit sin if you are a bigot. Do you understand that? If you are a racist, you are a sinner, and you will go to hell for it. You can be a racist against the Jews, black people, Indians, white men, or any nation, but you will be committing sin!
James 2:10 says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." If you are a good Christian in your church, but you have a problem mingling with people of other races, it's just as if you never went to church!
We are about to come into a world wide revival. We are about to come into a place where God is moving on every believer. I don't believe that you can go into that place unless you are "color blind," "nation blind," "last name blind," etc.
There are people who can't stand to be around the Jews. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, is a Jew. If you have a problem with the Jews, you have a problem with your Savior, whether you have accepted Him or not. You may say, I know some wicked Jews. Well, I know some wicked Gentiles. I know some wicked white men, some wicked black men, and some wicked red men. China is usually delegated to the yellow men, and Japanese are the orange men. There are brown men and there are even those who are really white, almost like Albino.
There are three basic races. The Mongolian, which is the Asiatic; the Negro, which is the black; and the Caucasian, which is the white. However, something happened and the races started mixing. The Middle Easterners are darker than we are. The Holy Land people are darker than we are. Are you still holding on? Jesus Christ was a dark man! He had Caucasian features, but He had curly, wavy hair no doubt, because He was a Middle Easterner. Jesus Christ is not a blue-eyed blond.
There are black people who believe that white people are nothing but devils, and there are white people who believe that black people are nothing but devils. The devil is in the middle laughing at both of them, right straight into hell! The Bible says to have no respect of persons. You say, Well, that is not having respect, that is having dis-respect. Yes, you are having respect of persons; you are paying more attention to them than you are to anyone else! Some people are paying more attention to them that they hate, than people they love. They lose their love, and neglect the ones they love to take out their hate on those they hate. James 3:11 says, "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?"
I'm telling you that if we don't get over this we aren't going to enter in to that special place that God has prepared for them that love Him. We are going to have different colors and nations here. Well, let the place fill up with them, but just don't them out-number us. Thank God, evangelists don't think that when they go to Africa and have crowds of a half a million people. There might not be a handful of white men in the whole crowd! Am I endorsing mixing? I'm endorsing to go color-blind. I'm endorsing Jesus Christ. He is Savior, and Lord of all men, and we must understand that Jesus Christ died for all men! He died for all, because all men were sinners. Black men or red men aren't any worse sinners than white men. White man are not any worse sinners than the brown or yellow. There have been wicked men of all races. Read the history books.
There is one man who stands out, and this man is one of the most despised of all the nations. He is a Jew, and his name is Jesus, and He died for all men! Isn't God good? We are going to have to get past racial barriers! Do you know how people are able to mingle? When they get to the place where they don't care what they look like, they won't think anything about it. How many people can think of the eye color of one of your really good friends? Maybe you would have to think a minute! You might know it, or you might not. You may have never noticed. You have looked into their eyes many, many times, but you just don't even notice. It could be that way with the whole body, so that you wouldn't notice the skin color. Wouldn't that be wonderful? You don't know what I wore last time I came to church. Maybe you can't remember what I wore two Sundays ago, or the last time you saw me. Maybe you just didn't notice, because you are spending more time listening to what was said than the outward appearance. Clothing is no different. Your skin is the clothing for your body, so what difference does it make what "style" you have?
I don't want to exclude women and young people, I just say "man" as a general term. There are going to be some of each race in both places, heaven and hell. I want to go to heaven. Some don't want to go to heaven, maybe, because other races are there. Well, other races are in hell, too. You don't want to go to heaven if black men go? Why do you want to go to hell then, because there are going to be black men in hell too. A white man, after a few minutes in hell, will look pretty dark too! In hell there is no light to see the difference.
A lot of people say that the reason that Cain was set with a mark is because he killed a white boy! Then what was Cain? Cain was whatever color they were! They had the same parents! You've got the same parents as black men do! Yes, you do! They are Adam and Eve. Does this make you nervous? If you aren't prayed through then you aren't going to make heaven your home! Everybody has the same Momma and Daddy! God smote Cain with darkness because he was a murderer. He disobeyed God. This was a religious fight. People will kill you over religion.
In Genesis 4:14 Cain is complaining to the Lord. It says, "Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me." Now, how can this be possible? He is talking about future generations. He is saying, Everyone that finds my children from this generation on will be in the business of killing me. Verse 15 says, "And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him."
That's the mark of darkness, some have said. How can you say (whoever you are) that the mark on Cain was that of a dark race, or anyone who is just different from you? How do you know it wasn't a white mark? How do you know that it wasn't a yellow mark? God set a mark upon Cain, but he didn't say that it was light, or dark, or a color. He just put a mark on him. It is still there, lest any man should kill him. God didn't want anybody abusing him or killing him, because the Bible says in Romans 12:19, ". . . Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." No one should be tormented, destroyed, picked on, oppressed, or brought into bondage for reason of his outward appearance. If the mark of Cain is that on the black man, and you harass him simply because he's black, then you are cursed seven times worse than if you harass a white man!
Do you know what that means? It means don't mess with the black man; don't mess with the white man, or yellow, or red, the green, the blue, the brown, the purple, the poke-a-dot, or any color! Don't mess with people because of their outward appearance! You could be harassing Cain, and be cursed seven times worse. You could smite one of theirs, and seven of yours die! You may say, Brother Kevin, why didn't you wait until some of those folks come in here, so they can get some of this? They will get it. God is going to make it known.
God gets mad at people for troubling other people about their outward appearance. If you have no respect of persons, you don't expect the worst from some races. Someone may say, Well, I know more wicked black people than I do white people. They give me more trouble than white people. You are looking for it in the black person, but a white person you will let ride, because you are white. Or maybe, if you are black, you will let a black person ride, because you are black.
Numbers 12:1 says, "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman." Miriam was Moses' older sister, and Aaron was his older brother. His brother and sister were Jews, which is pretty much Caucasian, although they are pretty dark themselves. They spoke against Moses. Aaron wasn't just his brother; Aaron was a high priest of God. Miriam was the one who led the women in praises when God parted the Red Sea. She and Aaron both were very high up on the scale, as far as the anointing was concerned. They were family and they were older than Moses. They spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman he had married. She was a black woman. Ethiopians are from Africa. Moses married her after his first wife died.
Am I pushing mixed marriages? I'm pushing Jesus Christ, and to get free from racism. You say, Well, bigotry is an important issue. Bigotry is not acceptable in the kingdom of God, and if you can't get past racism, you can't even go to heaven!
Look at this. Numbers 12:2 says, "And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it." In other words they were saying, I don't think he is so anointed anymore, because he has done this thing. Folks, the Lord heard it. The Lord heard your thought of racism, if you have any. Moses was meek, and he wouldn't argue with them. Verse 3-8 says, "(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
God never once even mentioned the woman! He knew Aaron and Miriam had a racist attitude about them. He was really angry at what they did to the man of God because of their racism. It would have even been worse if they had spoken against an Ethiopian preacher, instead of one of their own. They would have been holding back a ministry, as well as a household!
In Verse 10 it says that God smote Miriam with leprosy. Moses prayed for them both that God wouldn't kill them. Aaron prayed through, and Moses and Aaron both had to pray for her! This was all because of a racist remark. They didn't hit the woman. They didn't slap her. They didn't crucify her. They didn't make a slave out of her. They just spoke against Moses, indirectly going after her. They didn't even say her name. They were bigots inside, so they started coming against Moses, so nobody would know that they didn't like the Ethiopian woman. The Lord knew, and wrote it down. On the outside, all you would have seen was Miriam and Aaron fighting against Moses, saying (in other words), Well, you aren't the only one around here that is anointed. We are too. God also speaks by us. I can just imagine what the next declaration would be . . . There will be no blacks in this camp! The Lord let us know that they were angry because he married a black woman.
Folks, I've got some terrible news for you. It's not sin. You will not go to hell for it, but sadly,you can expect to have trouble in the flesh if you have a mixed marriage; it won't be because it is sin, but because of others' sin of bigotry. Your children will suffer most likely, but if you will press on with the Lord, I believe that God will keep people together. However, don't do it out of rebellion. We find that some people marry out of lines like that, out of rebellion against their parents, because they know that it troubles them. That is not fair to the person you are marrying, whatever color they are. People do this within their own race, and with other races. Esau married daughters of Canaan. He knew that it was a grief to Isaac and Rebecca; the Bible says that he did it on purpose to trouble his folks.
God doesn't look on the outward appearance; God looks on the heart. You bleed red, they bleed red, we all bleed red. We all have a heart that pumps, and we all think. Folks, there are more differences between men and women than there are between men of different races. Two men can talk all day long, and say, Yeah, brother, I know what you are talking about, but a man and a woman don't always seem to be able to do that. An Ethiopian cannot change their skin, and neither can we change ours. I might put on make-up, but, folks, it will wash off. We cannot be prejudiced and expect revival.
Abraham was chosen and called forth to come out of Ur of the Chaldees, and from that time on God had a people based on faithful Abraham. He was the first one to be called a Hebrew, and the Jewish race was set into motion. Now we have the same Spirit of faith, and there are spiritual people of every color. Thank God! The problem with most men is that they exclude the black man, or the Hispanic man, or the Indian, or whatever color they are not. There are race supremacy groups, even in the church!.
It's amazing how skin color, which is just a few thousandths of an inch deep, can cause prejudice to go right into your heart and dwell there. Let's believe God to deliver us from any prejudice that we might have.
Song of Solomon 1:5 says, "I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon." Comely means "easy to look at." Verse 6 says, "Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept." In other words it says, They have made slaves out of some of my own kind, where I couldn't even have my own house. This first chapter of Song of Solomon is talking about the oppressed woman, or the hated race, or the troubled ones.
Now, we consider these things. This one woman of Kedar said in Song of Solomon 1:5, "I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon." In other words, I was black as the tents of Kedar (the flesh of the Kedar). This is one group of people who, in some cases, were black. It didn't mean that all of them were.
Isaiah 60:7 says, "All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory." This is the same group of people spoken of in Song of Solomon. In other words, all the black, or despised people who will listen, shall come up with acceptance on God's altar. The black man will minister right before the Lord, just as anyone else. The Bible says in Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." What color is a "whosoever"?
We are Gentiles. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, who is a Jew. Ok? If we feel like we are doing someone a favor because of their race, we are condescending to them, and saying, Oh, you poor, misfortunate person. You happen to black, or Spanish, or red. You had better think what Jesus did when he saved you, the "poor, misfortunate Gentile." You are not a Jew, but He saved you anyway! We are under grace, and grace must be shown to all men by us if we expect to have the same thing. I'm using the "black-white" scriptures more than anything, because we have more of them in this area than other races, but it applies to all.
God sent the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:6 says, "Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language." Folks, when they had revival in those days, it was noisy! It was all over the place, and it spread! The Holy Ghost can talk in all languages!
Verse 7 says, "And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?" Yet they spoke like white men, black men, red men, yellow, orange, whatever; it didn't make any difference. Were they not all of the Galilaean dialect? Verse 8-11 says, "And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." That was the Holy Ghost bringing us together, and it names fourteen major groups of people.
In Matthew the 27th chapter, we see that Jesus was beaten beyond recognition. Three out of the four gospels mentions this incident. Matthew 27:32 says, "And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross." The Holy Ghost will never dwell in that which is unclean. Cyrene was one language that was heard from those filled with the Holy Ghost. Cyrene is in Lybia; Lybia is in Africa. Simon was a black man who helped carry the cross of Christ. However, notice also that the Holy Ghost spoke to those from Egypt (also in Africa), as well as to Libya, and also strangers of Rome. These were Gentiles. Every one of them could understand it in their language. You had kings, priests, commoners, and whoever in that place.
The disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to talk and prophesy to the people by the power of God, and by the Holy Ghost in every language. Why would God Almighty speak to his servants in every language, if He didn't design the Holy Ghost to go into every language, and every soul, and everybody regardless of race, color, or background. God wants to save everyone, and fill everyone with the Holy Ghost.
God wants us to have revival side by side. He's not just going to have revival in the black churches, and just in the white churches. He's going to have revival in His Church, period! If you can't mingle down here, you can't mingle in Heaven, and you will be forced to mingle in hell!
In John 4 Jesus came to the well. Don't forget that He's a Jew. John 4:7 says, "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." A woman of Samaria was a Samaritan. Verse 8-9 says, "(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." In other words she said, What is a black boy like you, talking to a white girl like me? It would be the same for red, or a white talking to an orange or yellow. You don't have any dealings with me. We don't have any thing in common. These folks didn't have an outward appearance problem, they had a total difference of religion.
I want to show you why the Samaritans were so hated by the Jews. Go into 2 Kings 17:28-33. It says, "Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence." They feared the LORD, and served their own gods!
It sounds a lot like the church world today! They taught them how to fear the Lord, and yet they served their own gods at the same time. This is why the Jewish community hated the Samaritans so much. They knew as much as the Jews did, but they served the devil about as much as they served God. Therefore, they wouldn't have any dealings with them, and that was rightly so.
However, Jesus approached this woman. She was the first woman evangelist in the Bible. She got a whole town to come to God. This Samaritan woman had been married five times, and was living with the sixth one. This was a Samaritan, a lose, lewd woman, and Jesus sat by the well and talked to her. He said in John 4:7, ". . . Give me to drink." Now, understand something; what He was saying was: Preach my gospel. You give me to drink to somebody else. John 4:9-10 says, "Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." God made everybody, and He loves everybody the same. He doesn't hate one more than another, and He doesn't love one more than another.
Romans 15:23 says, "But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you; Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company." Paul preached to the Spanish people! Spanish speaking people come from Spain. Mexicans came from Spain. South Americans came from Spain. Some Indians from America and Central America came from Canada and Alaska. They crossed from Russia, Gog and Magog, across the Lucian Islands and into Alaska. Then they dropped down into Canada, down into America, and went all the way down into South America. Have you noticed the Eskimos and the Indians have some of the same features?
Then the Spaniards came over, and then the Europeans. The native American Indians were here before we were. They came from across from Gog and Magog, and they came from Asia. That is the yellow man, but along the way as they mixed, they got red. Isn't that wonderful! God has a whole pallet full of beautifully colored people!
In I Corinthians 16:19 it says, "The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house." They had churches in Asia! Have you ever noticed that the Indians sometimes look like Asians? The Bible says that after the tower of Babel, men began to be scattered abroad. They hunted up one another who could talk the same language, and were scattered abroad. People fight over languages, and they fight over skin color; they fight over anything. God does not tolerate racism, because though we may be of a different color we are still all of one flesh. Many people wear cotton clothes, but there are a lot of different colored cotton clothes. I am thankful that God is not prejudiced!
There were churches in Asia. That includes the yellow man, the orange man, and even the Russian man. The Bible says that their preaching went to the ends of the world. As man migrated all over the globe, the truth went with them. However, every generation, in every nation, needs witness of the truth. They might remember what grandparents have said, or what has been passed down, but that sometimes gets twisted over time. Look at the totem poles in Alaska. Look at some of the troubles that the American Indians have had in worshiping things in their day. Look at the harlot church that was over in Europe, or some of the witch doctors they have had in Africa. Everybody has fallen! Everybody has come short of the glory of God!
We see how God has dealt with people who have trouble with other races, and of outward appearances, and of other religions. The Catholic religion is very ungodly, but it is ungodly to hate the Catholics. You can hate their religion, but don't hate the people. You can hate the Mormon religion, but don't hate the Mormon people. You can hate sin, but don't hate the sinner! Regardless of what a person is into, you are commanded to pray and seek God on their behalf. Somebody prayed for you and me!
Revelation 21:1-2 says, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."
In that same chapter, I want you to look at Verse 24-26: "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it." All nations that are saved are there! Verse 27 says, "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."
God is a wonderful God! There are other places mentioned in the Bible where people preached to the Spanish, those of the Isles of the Sea (which include the Polynesians and the Hawaiians), and to the Asians. Revelation 1:11 says, "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." We are blessed because of the revelation of John concerning the seven churches of Asia! All colors and all races will be in heaven!
There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism for all men. We are about to embark upon a great move of God in our lives and in the church. However, we have to understand what God thinks of racism. It is sin, and you can go to hell for racism just as fast as you can for murder or anything else. If you do everything else right, but are a racist, you will go to hell. It is wrong. Some people have a problem with Asian people, because maybe they fought against them in World War II, or in Vietnam. I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but you are going to have to pray through and get the hate out.
Matthew 5:23-24 says, "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." If you go to the altar, and have aught against a brother, then you had better stop praying right there until you been reconciled with the brother. Then you can go back and offer your sacrifice of prayer at the altar. God won't hear it unless you are reconciled. You may say, Well, I've got some things in my heart that I don't know if I can get rid of. You probably can't, but God can!
There are some wonderful people, and ministers, and Christians who are of a different color from you and I! They may be the very ones who will help to save your son or daughter from hell! They may love God enough to go past the prejudice! If your loved one was dying, and the person who was supposed to pray for them was of a different race and had prejudice, they wouldn't go pray for them, and then that loved one would die! Let's not have it. Let's put aside every weight and sin that so easily besets us, and let's run this race for revival!
Father, I thank you for your Word. Throughout the Word of God we know that you are no respecter of persons, and you command us to be the same way. God, I ask you in Jesus' name, to set every captive free from his bigotry. Praise you, God, that you let all nations in, if we come by the blood of Jesus. Wash every one of us clean for where we have hindered the work of God in this area. God, help us to be a loving church that will not look at the outward appearance, but at the heart. Cause us to receive every soul, God, no matter what a person has been in. God, if you are still dealing with them, there is still hope. I ask you, God, to set us free, in the name of Jesus. Amen
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